Hello my name is Natalia Munoz and here I am at the end of my production. It wasn’t an easy road, but I have successfully created my film opening for 2060. That’s right I’ve finally come up with a finalized title! It’s about time am I right? This process wasn’t easy and I am grateful that I have gotten to the finale. As I have recounted throughout this process with updates on my blog, 2060 is about a dystopian race war that takes place in the future year of 2060. It follows the stories of 3 young girls from different backgrounds and ethnicities on the run from one of their enemies. It didn’t initially start this way though. I had the idea to create a horror based movie, but as time went by this evolved into creating a dystopian film. I had taken inspiration from the film Get Out as I wanted to find a way to incorporate race into the horror genre much like how Jordan Peele managed to capture his vision on screen. I wanted to bring the fears people of color face on the daily to life by dramatizing persecution as much as possible. I wanted to make it seem as if this could not be a likely situation, but at the same time highlight key issues of current events that do make it all the more plausible. My film challenges conventions by not only introducing strong female lead characters, but also expanding on having a variety of ethnicities and backgrounds on screen. Often times people of color are misrepresented or under represented in the world of film. For example, it is commonly seen that black people in horror movies are to die first in the film. I wanted to challenge this stereotype by creating a strong female black character by the name of Diane. Her story is one meant to show the perseverance and strength that she holds as a person of color in society. More importantly the plight of black individuals in society is one with a large historic and recognized suffering. I included Diane at the end of this opening in order to draw suspense for what is yet to come. Due to the fact that black people are consistently seen as the first to die off in films, I wanted to draw this fear and this understanding that she might be the first to die in this film to the forefront for the viewer. This was intentional in creating an anxiety filled opening where it might be expected that she might die, yet taking the audience for a spin and perhaps not necessarily ending with the expected. By not just introducing one specific group of individuals, and introducing 3 people from a variety of backgrounds, it shows the unity in the fear felt by people of color in this future society. More importantly, the implementation of current real world events is seen during the voice overs. [play ice immigrant voice clip] By introducing hot button topics like I.C.E I wanted to capture the like-liness of current day issues going further than imagined. The whole purpose of a dystopia is to depict a future society that faced often times a dictatorship or something of the sorts that resulted in a destroyed tomorrow. This slight mention of separation of families paints true to current events and makes the fear of this future and dramatized society to become less of a dystopia and more of a reality for many.
In terms of distribution I am on a budget. My film was completely individually created, therefore my distribution methods are currently limited. In terms of putting this film out there I would work towards working with a specific company that helps with people just like me who are doing this whole process on their own. The indie rights film distribution company currently helps individual film makers put their work on platforms such as cable as well as retail stores to carry DVDs of indie films. They are a global distributor with direct relationships to major distribution outlets. They return 80% of all revenue to the filmmaker. Sounds pretty good to me! In order to draw attention to my film I do believe I would be making sure that advertisement is occurring on most if not all social media platforms as this is typically where the majority of individuals find their news and the latest trends. In order to keep up with the general public, paying extra to guarantee that more people will in fact see the advertisements would be a proper investment in order to engage with audiences at an easier and more efficient level. I am aware that my distribution levels are limited as I am currently on a budget and this would be my first indie film production. This isn’t the easiest to just get into every regal or amc cinema I choose. The process is to start small and to grow from there. This being said Get Out was also low budget and falls under Blumhouse Productions which is known for it’s low budget films and low budget production styles that ultimately have always resulted in huge financial gain.
My production skills have changed dramatically throughout the course of this production. I started out with little to no clue on how I was going to manage to get this done. Yet here I am finished with my opening! I started with not a clue on where to start, but I am so unbelievably glad that the hard part is now over. I applied the material learned from my class during my production, such as camera shots/angles/and movement. I implemented a variety of P.O.V shots in order to allow the audience to feel as though they themselves are one of the girls on the run. This allows for audiences to empathize with the characters on screen and feel the anxiety themselves. They find themselves rooting for the protagonists and fearing for their lives which is exactly the feeling I wanted to bring across on screen. I also made sure to implement a variety of camera shots and angles and focus on the mise-en-scene of the film. I would use a low angle when Richard was introduced in order to establish his dominance over the 3 girls and the power and superiority he believes he carries. I also decided on a more formalist approach in depicting the dystopia as many of the shots are similarly framed such as keeping the tree in the middle of the frame and using this as a center point for the audience to draw their attention to. Similar shots are strung together to create a cohesiveness to the film and add to the unity that the 3 female characters carry.
I integrated different technology by filming this opening on my Canon camera. I was initially going to use my IPhone, but decided that the Canon quality would be better in catching minute details such as the beginning brainwashing scenes as it added to the vibrancy of the colors. I implemented a voice changing component in order to serve as the brainwasher voice that was dictating the girl to listen and force feed ideology. This was a completely new element that I had never had the privilege of using in any of my productions. I feel as though this gave my film the extra “horror” element that right off the bat can scare audiences due to the low tones and distorted voice. I also used voice over on the IMovie editing software to bring forth the perspective of the character Nicole, who is a Korean immigrant describing her take on the current race war. This gives context to the brainwashing scenes with the voice distortions. I utilized a projector in order to create the brainwashing scenes in order for it to seem as if the character Lina is viewing a static filled subliminal message that is infiltrating her mind.
Thank you for following me during this process. It has been a wonderful experience and I am thankful to Cambridge for giving me this learning experience and allowing me to partake in discovering my love for media studies.